


Above All Else

by lizziemikaelsons (wintergalaxy)



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, My First Work in This Fandom, Penelope Park Cares, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-24 10:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17702570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintergalaxy/pseuds/lizziemikaelsons
Summary: Posie + “you need sleep.”





	Above All Else

**Author's Note:**

> I love every ship on Legacies but I was really having the Posie feels today, so I spun out this ficlet from one of those Tumblr prompt lists. Please accept my humble garbage alongside this fandom’s great writers.

After one too many yawns overtakes her, Penelope finally gives up on studying. She puts her grimoire down on her dresser, eager to settle into bed. Even witches get tired sometimes, after all.

As she gets situated, her attention is drawn to her body. In this silence, without extremely complicated spells to focus on instead, she notices for the first time that the dull emptiness that’s been progressively growing in her stomach is actually hunger. She sighs, dragging her hand across her face in exasperation. 

It makes sense, of course. The constant monster fighting timed with the looming threat of first semester final exams means that no one sleeps well anymore, if at all, and their eating schedules are messed up to match. She gets it.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying as hell.

At first she tries to ignore the feeling, because who in their right mind would ever leave such a toasty, warm bed just for a dumb midnight snack? But her innate needs quickly win out. The decision is hurried along by the irritating snarl of her stomach every thirty seconds. 

Penelope throws the blanket off her with a low growl. 

Fine, then. She’ll eat something.

Dr. Saltzman basically stockpiles candles for the aesthetic, despite having modern electricity in all the rooms. They’re not meant to be moved, being “decorative”, but Penelope will be damned if she spends five minutes fumbling around for every magic-impervious light switch in this godforsaken place. She lights it with a shrug and a simple spell before heading into the chilly hallway.

She passes the common area on her way there, walking in full strides despite being half-asleep on her feet a second ago—she’s Penelope Park, and part of being her is walking the confident walk any time, any day.

Which is also the reason she almost doesn’t see the small figure hunched over a table close to the dwindling embers of the fireplace, books spread around her in a chaotic mess like the eye of a storm.

Almost. 

But she does see her. And beyond a shadow of a doubt, she knows it’s Josie, exhausted from another night of studying.

It’s not an uncommon thing to do, especially at this time of year—Penelope herself was just doing it, after all—but only Josie would take it this far.

That stubborn, adorable fool.

Penelope blows out the candle before setting it down and taking a few steps toward the sleeping girl. 

As she comes into better focus, Josie’s baby face glows in the soft firelight, making her look even more sweet and innocent than usual. (Penelope knows she’s not _just_ sweet, that she’s fierce and badass and even has a streak of wrathful anger in her, but she smiles down at her nonetheless.)

Hesitating for a second, she cautiously reaches out and tucks the strand of hair falling in Josie’s face back behind her ear, letting her fingers brush her cheek for just a second as she does. She pauses, then lightly shakes her shoulder. “Jo.”

Josie wakes with a sharp, sniffling inhale. She raises her head off her arms and blinks groggily. It’s a few moments before she notices Penelope standing over her and her eyes darken with recognition.

“You need sleep,” Penelope says, before Josie can say anything. "Real sleep, not just...crashing whenever you can't keep your eyes open."

“Bite me,” Josie snaps, but it’s Josie, so there’s no real threat behind it. Add the lethargy and it’s almost pitiful how nonthreatening she is.

Penelope shrugs. “If you insist.”

Josie flushes rosy pink and looks away. “You know what I mean,” she says—it’s what she always says when Penelope makes a pass at her like that.

“Yeah,” Penelope says with a defeated sigh. Josie’s too tired to do the verbal spar-flirting thing they’ve had going ever since their breakup. And since she can’t match her right now, Penelope just wants to take care of her. That’s all she ever wants. Above all else.

“Come on,” she says gently, one hand resting on her left shoulder, the other extended for Josie to take. “I’ll walk you up to bed.”

Josie stops resisting surprisingly easily. She stands on wobbly, sleep-atrophied legs like a newborn deer just learning to walk. “Okay.”

Penelope pulls her unsteady form against her side, arm supporting most of her weight, but she’s strong enough and doesn’t mind anyway. They ascend the steps slowly, with Josie nearly falling asleep again on the walk up and the floorboard creaks threatening to betray their presence. 

Dr. Saltzman would probably make exceptions for his daughter being out of her room this late at night, but not so much for Penelope, even if she is helping Josie. That’s a risk she’s willing to take, but she’d still rather not be caught.

They finally make it to the twins’ room without issue, where the next challenge is making sure literal demon Lizzie Saltzman doesn’t wake up. But this quickly proves a non-issue because Lizzie isn’t even in bed. Penelope figures she’s either arguing with Hope or her father, or, more than likely, both. 

“Here we are,” she announces to Josie.

“Mmm,” Josie mumbles back, smiling at the bed before her. She pulls back the blanket, crawls in, and curls up into the fetal position without pulling it blanket back over her. She lies there like that, dwarfed by a mountain of pillows and stuffed animals on either side of her head, looking completely content.

Penelope snorts, exasperated but, as always with Josie, also endeared. She leans forward, tucks her in, and presses a chaste kiss to her cheek. “’Night, Jo.”

“Night.”

Penelope heads for the door, deep in thought.

They’re not together, but Penelope will never stop trying to take care of the girl who never takes care of herself. Even in the smallest of ways. At all hours of night. No matter how much Josie hates her.

That’s when she hears it.

“Love you,” Josie’s voice whispers in the darkness, slightly muffled by pillows.

Penelope stills, her hand hovering above the doorknob. She knows she is only saying that because of sleep deprivation, because she’s doing what they used to do before Penelope broke it off, but she can’t help but turn around and look at her once more. She’s always known deep down that despite all her awkward, blustery talk, Josie doesn’t truly hate her—or at least, that she loves her just as much as she hates her—but to hear her say it is an entirely different thing. Even if it is a half-asleep, late-night confession that she doubtless won’t remember tomorrow.

“I love you, too,” she whispers back.

Then she pulls the door shut behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @hopewolves.


End file.
